1. Field of the Invention
The present invents relates to a liquid crystal display module (LCDM), and more particularly, to an LCDM that has light weight and a thin profile.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As society has entered in earnest upon an information age, a field of display devices that represent all sorts of electrical signals as visual images has developed rapidly and many kinds of flat panel display devices (FPDs), such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, plasma display panels (PDPs), field emission display (FED) devices, electroluminescence display (ELD) devices, and so on, have been introduced. Since they have excellent capabilities of a thin profile, light weight and low power consumption, and so on, they are substituted for the cathode ray tube (CRT) rapidly and came into the spotlight.
Among these devices, LCD devices are widely used for notebook computers, monitors, TV, and so on, because of their high contrast ratio and characteristics adequate to display moving images. The LCD device uses an optical anisotropy property and a polarization property of liquid crystal molecules to display images.
The LCD device includes a liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal panel includes two substrates facing each other and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween.
Generally, an additional light source is required because the LCD panel is a non-emissive-type display device. Accordingly, a backlight unit is disposed under the LCD panel. The LCD device displays images using light produced by the backlight unit and supplied to the LCD panel. For example, the backlight unit includes one of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) and an external electrode fluorescent lamp (EEFL) as a light source.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a related art LCDM. Referring to FIG. 1, the LCDM includes a liquid crystal panel 10, a backlight unit 20, a main frame 30, a bottom frame 50 and a top frame 40. The liquid crystal panel 10 includes first and second substrates 12 and 14 facing each other and a liquid crystal layer therebetween.
The liquid crystal panel 10 is connected to a gate printed circuit board (PCB) 15 and a data PCB 17 via a flexible circuit board 16 that provide a scanning signal to a gate line of the liquid crystal panel 110 and an image signal to a data line of the liquid crystal panel 110, respectively. The gate and data PCBs 15 and 17 are electrically connected to each other. The gate PCB 15 may be omitted.
The data PCB 17 is connected to a control PCB 19 generating a control signal. A portion of the control signal from the control PCB 19 is applied to the data PCB 17, while the other of the control signal from the control PCB 19 is applied to the gate PCB 15 via the data PCB 17.
The control PCB 19 is electrically connected to the data PCB 17 via a flexible flat cable (FFC) 18. The control PCB 19 can be bent into a rear side of the liquid crystal panel 110 due to a flexible property of the FFC 18.
The backlight unit 20 is disposed at a backside of the liquid crystal panel 10. The backlight unit 20 includes a reflective sheet 22, a lamp 24, a diffusion plate 26 and a plurality of optical sheets 29. The lamp 24 is disposed on the reflective sheet 22. The diffusion plate 26 and the optical sheets 29 are stacked over the lamp 24.
A side support 28 for supporting and fixing the lamp 24 is combined with the bottom frame 50. The liquid crystal display panel 10 and the backlight unit 20 are combined using the main frame 30 that can prevent movement of the liquid crystal panel 10 and the backlight unit 20. The top frame 40 cover edges of the liquid crystal panel 10 and sides of the main frame 30, so the top frame 40 can support and protect of the edges of the liquid crystal panel 10 and sides of the main frame 30. The bottom frame 50 covers back edges of the main frame 30, so the bottom frame 50 is combined with the main frame 30 and the top frame 40 for modulation.
Recently, the LCD device for a portable computer, a desktop computer, a monitor and a wall-mounted television is required to have a wider displaying area with a light weight and a thin profile.
However, since the LCD device requires too many elements, there is a limitation for a light weight and a thin profile.
Particularly, there is a limitation in connection of the data PCB 17 to the control PCB 19. In more detail, the data PCB 17 is electrically connected to the control PCB 19 via a connector (not shown) disposed at both ends of the FFC 18. When the data PCB 17 and the control PCB 19 are connected to each other using the connector, processing costs increase due to the connector. Moreover, an assembling process and a disassembling process are complicated.
The control PCB 19 is combined with an external body by a flexible cable (not shown). In this case, since the control PCB 19 is bent into a rear side of the bottom frame 50, there is also problem in combining the control PCB 19 with the flexible cable.